Public health and law enforcement officials in Houston are concerned about the number of teens addicted to the use of a cough syrup known as syzurrp, calling it a "major drug problem." In the Hip-Hop community, H-Town has become known as "The City of Syrup or The City of Lean."

The drug, an addictive prescription cough syrup codeine with promethazine, has been prescribed by various doctors throughout the Houston region but has become an addiction to many youth who use it in social circles to get high.

University of Texas School of Public Heath professor Ron Peters has conducted research, and says that the syrup has been used at least once by almost 30 percent of teenagers in the Houston area. This number has increased from the 25 percent recorded in a prior study in 2003.

About 10 percent of the teens in the study said they had used the drug in the past 30 days.

"Anything over 4 percent in the last 30 days is a major drug problem,'' Peters told the Houston Chronicle. Those figures may be too conservative, said Troy Jefferson, who heads a drug treatment center for children and adolescents at Riverside GeneralHospital in Houston.

Jefferson said that, out of more than 5,000 teens treated at the clinic in the past seven years, as many as 35 percent had tried prescription cough syrup more than once.

16-year-old patient Austin Hewitt, said that he and his friends mixed the syrup with Sprite or Sprite Remix. Hewitt revealed, "It's pretty popular. The cough syrup is easy to get."

It is believed that the widespread use of syrup in Houston began with DJ Screw's rap music. Screw, whose real name was Robert Earl Davis, Jr. He died in 2000 from an overdose of the intoxicating blend. Three 6 Mafia further popularized the tonic on their 2000 hit, "Sippin on Some Syrup". Houston rapper Mike Jones refers to it in his "screwed" music such as, "I keep that purple stuff in my cup," referring to a mixture of syrup and a soft drink.

At the moment, there is a federal case pending against six pharmacists for illegal distribution of the syrup. The case initially went to trial earlier this year, but the jury declared a mistrial. Due to the severity of the issue, U.S. District Judge David Hittner ordered the case to a re-trial. The pharmacists are facing charges of a 170-count indictment of the illegal dispense of thousands of gallons of the syrup; as well as thousands of tablets of hydrocodone, a synthetic narcotic used as a painkiller better known as Vicodin.

The pharmacists on trial are also facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on conspiracy charges, a $250,000 fine on each drug distribution count, and a $500,000 fine for each count of money laundering.

During the first trial, Dr. Callie Hall Herpin plead guilty and uncovered that she learned from another doctor how to start a practice based on the illegal dispense of controlled drugs.

A couple of office workers, who also plead guilty, explained how they used computer-generated lists of phony patients to prepare prescriptions. Dr. Herpin signed off on the phony prescriptions without reading them or examining the "patients."

Lt. Robert Manzo, Houston Police Department spokesman, admitted that the syrup is "extremely popular," but did not comment on law enforcement efforts against the addictive drug.

__________________


[CENTER]